In the film “American Tongues,” enormous majority of American from different cities have different regional accents of English. Some people have positive attitude towards the different regional accents of English. They believe that the way people speak is always changing based on what they hear from their linguistic environment. There are a few scenes in the film where people share what they think about using certain dialects in positive attitude. In one scene, there is an African-American woman who is interviewed and asked whether she uses a vernacular dialect or a standard form of English in her everyday life. Her reply was that she uses both types of dialects during different times of her life. She said that when she is out in public or at her work, she talks in a standard form of English. However, she also said that when she is with her family or with her friends, she talks in her vernacular dialect. This shows that the woman thinks that both forms of dialect are useful depending on the situation. By using Standard English towards her professional life, this shows that she knows that people will judge you by the way you speak. So she uses a standard form of English out in public or at her work, because people will think she is more "educated" or more "professional". However, some people believe that some differences in dialects can grow into stereotypes and the way individuals are observed. For example, those who have a southern accent may be considered slow and drawn out, and the opposite is said for northerners. Those with northern accents are judged on their typical high fast paced dialect. In some cities, people can accept and understand different accents, but others can’t accept it. They would feel funny, and laugh at the person who pronounces in a strange way. For the Black, they also feel that racism occurs to them when they speak “black English” to others who are not Black. Because there’s so much slang in “black...

YOU MAY ALSO FIND THESE DOCUMENTS HELPFUL

...strict instruction, Brown constructed sets that represent a reality that is not quite realist, but abstracted to evoke a child’s perspective of the films already skewed world.
1. River- Extreme wide shot of the boat slowly drifting under a sky of impossibly bright stars: creates an ultra-stylized, storybook look9; this is one of the few instances in the film of a shot looking explicitly fake. Painted backdrop appears like a farmhouse and barn that look like...

...speech patterns. A person’s dialect forms around those he is surrounded by, and may change through the course of their life. This video captures the different aspects and unique characteristics of the American language, creating a modern since of togetherness for the world.
The video AmericanTongues produced a clear representation of how differently you may speak from your neighbor. Some differences in dialects can grow into stereotypes and...

...In this film entitled "AmericanTongues", the basic message the viewer gets, is that many people have different dialects and that different people have different views about the people who speak them. Some of these views can be negative and offensive, while others can be positive and thoughtful. Regardless, we all can see that dialects have a huge impact on people's lives. In my paper, I will argue that people should learn a standard form of English...

...the video “AmericanTongues”
Date: 12 February 2015
AmericanTongues is a 1988 documentary made to illustrate some of the dialects of American English. It features commentaries from several groups of professionals, such as sociolinguists Roger Shuy and Walt Wolfram, columnists Mike Harden and Molly Ivins, therapist Dennis Becker and historian A.C. Greene. The most prominent commentators are Walt Wolfram and...

...Hollywood films and cinema, which one vital value is the dichotomy of outlaw hero versus official hero. Official hero tends to be an idealogy of the law and society values, represented through characters such as police officers and lawyers, whereas outlaw hero tends to be more of an individual with own marks of traits, and own marks of actions. Ray discusses that in traditional films, how a single character can hold completely different traits , giving examples...

...﻿Alex Bakaitis
GEPL 3050
2/18/15
AmericanTongues Essay
Depending on where you're from and where you've lived in the United States, you probably say things a little differently than people from other parts of the country. AmericanTongues is a documentary that films different varieties of English that people speak all around the United States. AmericanTongues is a documentary that...

...Film Response #1
“AmericanTongues”
Synopsis: The video AmericanTongues is a documentary, illustrating the aspects of geographical linguistics within the United States. A dialect or an accent means the words we use and how we pronounce them, and in this case the language is American English. Variations of English that result in local dialects are discussed, reasons for dialect differences are given, and...

...Film commentary:The World of Suzie Wong (1960)
The World of Suzie Wong is a film that contrasts the haves with the have-nots in colonial Hong Kong and more subtly than insistently shows how difficult it can be to climb out of poverty. Surrounded by the candy wrapper of pretty costumes, happy hookers, little violence, and tidy environs, The World of Suzie Wong delivers a potent message to an audience that normally wouldn’t go anywhere near it.
A...